NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday stayed an order by the Punjab and Haryana High Court to open the road outside the residence of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on experimental basis for general public as the state government and Chandigarh administration opposed the direction in view of threat perception.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta issued notice to the Union Territory Chandigarh administration on a plea by the Punjab government, which claimed threat perception to the current Chief Minister.
Nobody wants anything untoward to happen. Issue notice. Direction on opening road on trial basis is stayed till further orders but the writ petition proceedings before the High Court can continue," the bench said.
The court fixed the matter for consideration in the week commencing September 2, 2024.
Punjab's Advocate General Gurminder Singh submitted that in recent years unfortunately, there was resurgence of terrorism and grenades were thrown at the intelligence building.
It is not advisable to open the road to even on experimental basis, he said.
On April 27, the High Court had in its order directed the Chandigarh administration to formulate a plan to ease the traffic congestion by opening the 500-metre road in front of the Chief Ministers residence on an experimental basis from May 1.
The opening of the road was to be made on a trial basis from May 1 from 7 am and 7 pm on all working days.
The Punjab government and the Chandigarh administration approached the Supreme Court, opposing the direction.
The AG, while seeking immediate stay of the HC order, also referred to the example of the alleged killing of popular Punjabi singer, Sidhu Moosewala, and said that he was allegedly killed soon after his security was withdrawn.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Chandigarh administration, submitted the move could have grave implications on someone's life.
"This is playing with somebody's life," he said.
Mehta said he would refer to a dialogue of a film that the terrorists have to succeed only once but agencies have to succeed everytime.
The stretch of the road was closed in 1980s, due to the insurgency and rise in the number of increased terrorism cases.
